


Along Came a Spider

by amine



Series: Gen X and Gen Z [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Peter is a Little Shit, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 07:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15944168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amine/pseuds/amine
Summary: "'Did you just call me ‘dad’?''No! No, no I said…bad. As in your jokes are actually the worst.'"





	Along Came a Spider

**Author's Note:**

> So..."Family of Choice" is one of my favorite tropes in fiction, so naturally I latched onto Tony Stark being a father figure to Peter Parker with a vengeance. I apologize if this has been done a million times, but I've only barely made a dent in all the fanfics and I just had to throw my hat into this ring.
> 
> This kind of disregards Infinity War (but it could also be pre-IW), but I'm working on something else that is basically just about IW so maybe it's a fair trade, ha ha!

After a childhood of emotional neglect and the people he loved leaving him in one way or another, Tony built up the careful persona of indifferent arrogance. It was a lot easier to pretend that he was too good for everyone than to admit that his loneliness was crippling and consuming. It was a lot easier to love ‘em and leave ‘em than let himself fall into the trap of believing that he could be in a relationship where love was an easy give and take. 

There had been Rhodey, and for once Tony had another person he genuinely trusted outside of perhaps his mother and Jarvis. But that was it, he’d decided. He’d never get close to anyone, never let anyone else in but Rhodey. It would only ever be Rhodey ever.

Then came Pepper, and with her came the end of the “love ‘em and leave ‘em” lifestyle he’d adopted for so long. It was startingly easy to fall in love with her, just as easy as it was to fall into her arms when the world felt like it was closing in and suffocating him.

There had also been the other Avengers, but like so many other of his relationships, that had ended in pain and what he thought would be death at the hands of someone he had considered his friend. He’d retreated back into himself somewhat after that, resenting himself more than anything for thinking that because Rhodey and Pepper had gotten past his defenses, that meant that he could trust others, too.

But then along came a spider. 

Unlike the many complicated relationships he’d had with all of the other people who had come and gone in his life, his relationship with Peter Parker was almost annoyingly simple. Peter did something heroic but incredibly stupid, another one of Tony’s hairs went grey, and he’d spend nights in his lab developing tech that he hoped would prevent stupidity from entering Peter’s heroics. Rinse, repeat. It was also annoying just how quickly and easily he became attached to that kid.

That same kid who that day was in his lab singing—more like screaming, really—along to “Girls on Film” as he tinkered with his web shooters. Apparently May had had him listen to a bunch of 80s songs in an attempt to impress his date for the homecoming dance that never was. On the one hand, it meant that Tony could listen to Duran Duran without snide comments about how _old_ that music was—he swore he broke out into hives every time Peter referred to a film from his childhood as “really old”—but it also meant that he was subjected to performances he never asked for.

Even so, Tony had to hide his smile as Peter shoved off the lab table and spun around on the stool as it glided over to where Tony was trying to improve on some armor that would help idiot spider teenagers not get hit by buses while trying to help a gaggle of kittens cross a busy street.

“Whatcha working on, Mr. Stark? Anything I can help with?”

Tony glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. “Don’t get hit by a bus in the first place, champ.”

Even though he couldn’t see it, Tony could _feel_ Peter’s smile widen, and he had to cough to keep the corners of his own mouth from twitching upward. 

“Twas but a scratch!”

Tony waited for the comment about that “really old” movie, but thankfully it didn’t come. He gave Peter a side-eye and was met with a beaming but cheeky smile. This kid was going to be the death of him.

“You actually lose any limbs and I’ll get your hot aunt in here to design your suits.”

Peter scoffed, but started twirling on the stool. “Aww, come on. May’ll just stick me in a padded suit. No freedom of movement or anything!”

“That might be better for everyone’s blood pressure, kid. You can be the Stay Puft Spidermallow Man. Think of the merchandising potential.”

“Maybe you should stick to tech instead of rebranding really old movies, Dad.”

The only thing that broke the silence that followed was the squeak of Peter’s stool as he abruptly stopped twirling, and Tony slowly looked up to see Peter swallow and stare at him with wide eyes.

“Did you just call me ‘dad’?” 

“No! No, no I said…bad. As in your jokes are actually the worst.”

As he watched Peter fail spectacularly at acting casual, Tony was amazed that he had kept his secret life as Spider-Man a secret from May for as long as he did. He was shifting his weight, chewing on his lip, and wrapping his arms around himself as his gaze darted everywhere but at Tony.

Just as Tony opened his mouth to respond, Peter abruptly stood and marched with jilted steps to the elevator, where he grabbed his abandoned backpack and then gesticulated wildly.

“I, uh…gotta go! Didn’t realize how late it was getting, ha ha! Early bird gets the worm and gotta seize the day and all that. It was great, Mr. Stark. Let me know when the armor’s done, Mr. Stark!”

Tony waited until Peter disappeared behind the closing elevator doors before he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Given his own shitty dad, he expected being called one himself to bring back a lot of bitter feelings and memories that he avoided whenever he could help it. He expected to make a bunch of excuses for why he shouldn’t be anyone’s dad, much less one to a kid who already had a great family. Instead, he was just reminded of how there was a third person that had managed to get irretrievably under his skin with basically no effort at all.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. did you get that? Play it back.”

“ _Maybe you should stick to tech instead of rebranding really old movies, Dad._ ”

Hearing it again, Tony had to laugh. This kid really was going to be the death of him.


End file.
